Grigory Drozd Wins WBC Cruiserweight Belt from Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
No late “Diablo” heroics this time. Russian challenger Grigory Drozd (39-1, 27 KOs) outboxed longtime World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight champion Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk (49-3-1, 35 KOs), of Poland, to claim the WBC green belt by twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at Dynamo Palace of Sports in Moscow, Russia. After four rounds, WBC open scoring revealed that the challenger was up 39-37 on all cards. Drozd battered Wlodarczyk to the canvas in round eight and after the eighth stanza, open scoring was 79-72, 79-72, 78-73 for Drozd. Wlodarczyk was unable to seize victory from the clutches of defeat in the championship rounds as he has done many times previously. Scores were 118-109, 119-108, 119-108. Wlodarczyk was making his eighth defense of the belt.